The law changes as of today in relation to the right to request flexible working patterns. Until now the right existed only for parents and carers, as of today the right is extended to all employees. The government has also relaxed the complicated procedure which had to be followed. Following...

You will have heard about the substantial changes to the flexible working rules that came into force at the end of June. We will update your policy on flexible working to make sure it covers the new rules at no cost if you are Arcturus client, if you are not Arcturus client...

A case last week has looked at whether or not an employee has to show why a practice or criterion has a discriminatory effect on them. The answer is that they do not. To put this in context, a promotion exam at the home office was statistically more likely to be...

In this case, an employee secretly recorded her employers adjournment discussions by leaving a secret tape recorder in her coat when she left the room for an adjournment. It may ruffle some of your feathers to learn that the Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") has held that secret recordings of private...

In a case in the Appeal Tribunal last week, constructive dismissal was examined. If an employee is claiming constructive dismissal, they must either resign promptly and immediately after the alleged breach by the employer, or they must give their notice in promptly. In this case the emplopyee gave 7 months...

The Supreme Court has ruled this week on the status of LLP Members and decided that they are workers. This should be of concern to any company structured as an LLP as members now have all the rights associated with worker status; such as rights to protection for whistleblowing, working...

The new Business to Consumer Selling Regulations will come into force this Friday (13th June 2014).  If you currently sell goods or services directly to consumers, then it’s very likely that these changes will require you to amend your current documentation and business processes. If your business is involved with...

A worrying case was published last week concerning whether an employee should be paid the minimum wage where they are required to sleep the night at work. The case in question concerned a care worker who, while she had normal working hours, also had occasional sleep in duty. The reason for...

The High Court has held that a 12-month non-competition post-termination restrictive covenant in an agreement between a financial adviser and his employer was enforceable. Under a "goodwill agreement", the financial adviser had been paid for the goodwill in the client base he brought with him to the firm, but was...

From 6 May 2014 any employee wanting to bring a Tribunal claim will first have to contact ACAS and go through early conciliation. When they contact ACAS they will fill in a form giving the details of who should be contacted at the employer company. ACAS realise that in some...